Naxalites had gathered in remote jungles of Bijapur for a Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) meeting when security forces surrounded them, leading to a fierce exchange that left 26 Maoists dead, Chhattisgarh Deputy CM Vijay Sharma said on Friday.
Security forces killed at least 30 members of the banned CPI (Maoist) in two separate encounters in the Bastar region on Thursday.
While 26 Naxalites were killed in Bijapur district, four Maoists were gunned down in Kanker by a joint team of the BSF and District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel of the state police. A police jawan was also killed in the encounter in Bijapur, officials had said.
"Naxalites had gathered in remote jungles for a meeting considering their Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC), which is typically observed between March and June, as an appropriate time when security forces surrounded them on Thursday," Sharma, who heads the Home Ministry, told reporters on the premises of the assembly complex.
Cornered from all sides, Naxals opened fire on security forces who retaliated, he said, while hailing the operation as a major achievement against Naxals.
An official on Thursday said a gunfight broke out around 7 am in a forest along the border of Bijapur and Dantewada districts when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation in Gangaloor police station area in Bijapur.
The bodies of 26 Naxalites besides firearms and explosives were recovered from the spot.
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